Aston University Procurement Contracts Register

What is the Aston University Procurement Contracts Register?

The Aston University Procurement Contracts Register is a publiclyavailable digital record that lists all contracts entered into by the universitys Procurement Office. It provides a clear overview of the contractual relationships the university has with suppliers, service providers and consultants. The Register is designed to meet the transparency obligations set out in UK public sector procurement legislation while supporting internal governance, risk management and valueformoney analysis.

Legal Framework and Policy Context

All highereducation institutions in England are classified as public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and are therefore required to publish contract information that meets the criteria of the Transparency in Public Procurement Regulations 2015. Aston University also aligns its practice with the UK Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. The Register therefore:

• Lists contracts above the relevant monetary thresholds (currently 189,330 for noncentral government contracts and 3,150,000 for central government contracts).
• Provides essential contract attributes such as title, value, duration, award date and the winning supplier.
• Ensures the register is updated within 30 days of contract award, as required by the regulations.

How the Register Works

The register is hosted on Aston Universitys intranet and mirrored on a publicfacing website. The workflow follows three main stages:

1. Contract Capture: When a procurement team finalises a contract, details are entered into the central procurement system (eProcure). The system automatically flags contracts that meet the publishing threshold.
2. Verification & Publication: The Procurement Governance Officer reviews the data for accuracy, checks for any confidential or commercial sensitivities, and either redacts required sections or publishes the entry.
3. Maintenance: Amendments, extensions or terminations are logged as updates, with a versioncontrol log attached to each entry.

The register is searchable by contract reference, supplier name, contract value range, department and procurement category.

Key Data Fields Displayed

Sensitive commercial information (e.g., pricebreakdowns or proprietary clauses) is only displayed when the supplier consents or when disclosure is not detrimental to competitive positioning.

Benefits of Publishing the Register

Transparency and Accountability Students, staff, taxpayers and suppliers can view how public money is spent, reinforcing confidence in university governance.

Market Competition Public visibility encourages fair competition, as suppliers understand the scale and type of contracts the university regularly awards.

Risk Management Centralised data enables the university to monitor concentration of spend with a single supplier, identify potential conflicts of interest and assess compliance with sustainability criteria.

Strategic DecisionMaking Analytics derived from the register help procurement professionals spot trends, negotiate better terms and support longterm budgeting.

Access and Transparency

The register can be accessed via the universitys Public Services menu under Procurement & Contracts. No login is required for the public view. For internal users, a filtered view shows contracts below the public threshold and additional columns such as internal project codes.

Data can be downloaded in CSV format for analysis. An API endpoint is also available for authorized thirdparty tools that require realtime contract data.

Future Developments

Aston University is currently piloting a Smart Contract Dashboard that will overlay the register with key performance indicators (KPIs) such as ontime delivery, sustainability scores and supplier diversity metrics. The dashboard will incorporate machinelearning alerts for contracts that approach cost overruns or expiry dates.

In line with the UK Governments push for Open Data, the university plans to contribute anonymised contract metadata to the national Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) repository by the end of 2027.